London:
The British authorities indicated on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be arrested on an International Criminal Court arrest warrant if he travelled to the UK.
The ICC on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and ex-defence minister Yoav Gallant in response to accusations of crimes in opposition to humanity and battle crimes in Israel’s battle on Hamas in Gaza, triggered by the militant Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 assault.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman refused to be drawn particularly on whether or not UK police would detain Netanyahu, telling reporters he wouldn’t “get into hypotheticals in relation to particular person instances”.
But he added: “The UK will all the time adjust to its authorized obligations as set out by home legislation and certainly worldwide legislation.”
Britain signed the Rome Statute, the worldwide treaty that created the ICC, in 1998 and ratified it three years later.
The UK’s ICC Act 2001 stipulates that when a authorities minister receives a request from the ICC for the arrest of an indictee they “shall transmit the request and the paperwork accompanying it” to an applicable courtroom.
“If the request is accompanied by a warrant of arrest and the suitable judicial officer is happy that the warrant seems to have been issued by the ICC, he shall endorse the warrant for execution within the United Kingdom,” the act provides.
Officials say the act has not but been used as a result of somebody charged by the ICC has by no means visited Britain.
It shouldn’t be clear whether or not the UK courtroom course of begins after the ICC points the arrest or as soon as the indicted individual lands on British soil.
“We would clearly fulfil our obligations beneath the act,” added Starmer’s spokesman.
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